Today is the 20th anniversary of the smoking ban in Scotland. I vaguely remember spending the day in Edinburgh to handle any media requests but beyond that it’s a bit of a blur.

Famously, Scotland’s first minister Jack McConnell was said to be sceptical about a ban until he spent a morning in Dublin in 2004 where he was taken to three or four specially chosen pubs to discuss the effects of the smoking ban in Ireland, which had been introduced in March that year.

Just arrived in Brussels, via Eurostar, for the grandly named World Nicotine Congress which begins tomorrow.

It’s nice to be back because I used to visit the city several times a year. According to my diary, however, the last time was in February 2020, six weeks before the first Covid lockdown..

Just back from having an MRI scan at Peterborough City Hospital.

In recent years I’ve undergone multiple scans (MRI, CT, ultrasound), and this was my third MRI scan. It’s not particularly pleasant (I’ve written about it before so I won’t repeat myself) but, let’s just say, it’s uncomfortably noisy with lots of loud electronic clicks and beeps.

I drove to Chester on Tuesday. Shortly before I arrived my car developed a slow puncture in a rear tyre.

It’s happened before (on the same journey, funnily enough, so I knew where to get it fixed) but on this occasion it was the same tyre that was fitted only last week when my car had its MOT. However, the damage was beyond repair so I had to buy another new tyre at a cost of £291.

I generally resist writing about bands I like because I’m conscious that no-one is really interested in another person’s taste in music.

Nevertheless, you may be aware that I have a long-standing interest in Squeeze, a band I first saw play live in 1978 when I was a student in Aberdeen and they were supporting Eddie and the Hot Rods.

My car had its MOT last week.

While I waited I wandered around the adjacent showroom. The last time I was here almost every car on display was electric. This time I counted 15 vehicles and only one was an EV.

Welcome to my annual reminder that No Smoking Day, which takes place today, ain’t wot it used to be.

Shortly after I joined Forest, we marked the event by sending a crack team of operatives to Paris. The aim was to escape the annual nagathon by spending the day in what was then considered the European capital of smoking.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is done and dusted. Almost.

Today was scheduled to be the final day for the report stage in the House of Lords. Instead, matters were wrapped up shortly before 9.00pm on Tuesday.